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I know there are a lot of Bryophyte lovers out there! My facebook post about the visit last November by three field scientists who were collecting and documenting mosses, liverworts, hornworts and lichens in the Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve got the most views of all of my facebook posts yet — 240! Impressive! (See the November 26th post, Bryophytes: A Whole New Tiny World of Wonder!)

John Townsend, Botanist with the Natural Heritage Division of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and Tom Wieboldt, Curator of the Herbarium at Virginia Polytechnic Institute sent me their findings a couple of months later. And here they are:

John’s comment about these species is that none are particularly “odd” (read rare) which may relate to the habitat of Naked Mountain and particularly, the two natural communities where he and Tom collected: near the summit and in the low elevation basic outcrop barrens. You can read about the barrens, which constitute a rare natural community and an important reason Naked Mountain is a Virginia natural area preserve here. Although the summit of Naked Mountain is often encased in foggy mist as it was the morning these folks arrived, it is generally a dry ridge habitat. And the barrens are a rocky, open outcrop with thin soils that seep in the spring, but dry up in the heat of the summer. Both are tough environments for most bryophytes and limit the number of species that can survive there.

For vascular species, be sure and check out the new Plant List page for Naked Mountain on the menu bar. Coming soon: a report on the natural communities that occur on Naked Mountain. The extensive mapping was done last summer by the ecological team at the Division of Natural Heritage. They identified ten discrete natural communities. Stay tuned!

Before I tell you about what happened on Naked Mountain earlier this week, take a moment and click on Naked Mountain, the Book on the menu bar and read about my new memoir. I will post information about where and when I will be doing a book launch event. And check here for media related to the book and other events. At my book launch, I will be doing readings from the book and will explain how Naked Mountain became Virginia’s 49th natural area preserve. I will also discuss important lessons I’ve learned about ovarian cancer, grieving, and remaking a life. I hope you will join me.

Firepink (Silene virginica) blooming this week on Naked Mountain

Battling invasive plants and animals is the most important task facing anyone who happens to be fortunate enough to own a natural area preserve in Virginia. I suspect this imperative exists for publicly or privately owned natural area preserves everywhere in the U.S. The nature of the enemy may change from location to location, but the need to engage in the war is essentially the same. Ignoring these threats can easily overwhelm the biodiversity of the property, which is why it was dedicated as a preserve — a place that contains and protects excellent examples of natural communities and usually rare species within those communities.

Fortunately I have help in managing the invasives on Naked Mountain. First and foremost I have assistance from highly educated and trained stewards with the Natural Heritage Program, a division of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. Stewards provide essential management services to the 63 natural area preserves in Virginia. As one of the few on-site landowners, they provide me with advice and consultation on how to identify and manage invasives and come twice- a- year to work alongside me to control them. But their ability to do all of this has been severely challenged by budget limitations. As the number and acres of preserves has more than doubled in Virginia in the past decade and the threat from invasive species grows exponentially, the number of staff at Natural Heritage has actually declined. The Virginia Native Plant Society, a wonderful non-profit organization whose motto is: “conserving wild flowers and wild places,” is spearheading an effort targeted at boosting budget resources for Natural Heritage.

Another important and growing source of help is Virginia’s Master Naturalist program. Master Naturalists are volunteer educators, citizen scientists, and stewards of public lands. The Central Blue Ridge Chapter is located in Nelson County and its leaders have always been my neighbors so I have had good help from this source for the past five years. Our focus has been on pulling up Garlic Mustard, an aggressive woodland and forest invasive that can quickly overwhelm native plants. It is also allelopathic, so its presence poisons the soil so that the seedlings from native trees and plants can’t grow.

I am pleased to report that this spring, in areas of Naked Mountain that used to be infested with Garlic Mustard, we found very little. It has taken ten years of persistent pulling to get to this point. I have been so focused on this task that even while I was being treated with chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer in 2008, I pulled up Garlic Mustard for hours and carried ten pound bags of it walking uphill for a mile.

Another important development in the Blue Ridge area of Virginia is the recent establishment of the Blue Ridge PRISM , or Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management. It’s a non-profit, citizen led organization that’s focused on controlling invasive species on private lands. I am coordinating the Dutch Creek Area Stewardship, one of the many local sub-groups that belong to Blue Ridge PRISM. I will write about this group and its work in a future post.

On April 19th, members of the Headwaters Master Naturalist chapter came to Naked Mountain to help me control a relatively new invasive, Multi-flora Rose. This non-native rose has begun infesting several areas along my road, including a small, beautiful seep where over 100 spectacular Cardinal plants (Lobelia cardinalis) bloom in August. Led by the extremely competent Chris Bowlen, her husband Gene and friend Jerry Hopkins we alternately dug up smaller Multi-flora shrubs or cut the canes on larger shrubs and dripped 40% glyphosate on the just cut stems. The latter procedure is not as effective in Spring as it would be in Fall when the plants nutrients are being drawn back down into the root system, but we felt it was worth trying. In the seep we were able to pull up the much smaller shrubs there and so avoided contaminating the flowing spring-fed stream with herbicide.

At the end of 2.5 hours of work, we had pulled or treated every visible multi-flora rose infestation along the mid-section of my 2.5 mile long road, the only area affected, so far. While I will need to constantly monitor for re-growth, I am extremely pleased with our result. Tackling an invasive as early as possible helps keep it from becoming an overwhelming problem.

Oh yes, you want to know why a master naturalist group from the Harrisonburg area of Virginia, which is 60 miles away, would come and work on Naked Mountain when they have their own important local projects? Last month, I gave a talk about the flora, fauna and geology of Naked Mountain to the Headwaters Master Naturalist Chapter. Several members who heard the talk expressed an interest in visiting Naked Mountain and offered to do invasive species field work as their ticket for admission. What a deal!

Last week, five of us worked for four hours pulling Garlic Mustard in the Naked Mountain Natural Area Preserve. Two of the workers were Natural Heritage Division stewards, Adam Christie and Wes Paulos, and three of us were volunteers. One, Nancy Muzek, came all the way from the District of Columbia to help me with this annual task. The next day, Janice Jackson joined Nancy, Janice’s husband Chapin Wilson, who had helped us the day before, and me for another two hours of pulling in another area of the preserve.

This was not the first Garlic Mustard outing this year. In March, another helpful neighbor and Master Naturalist, Anne Colgate, joined me to pull the weed in an area far away from the house and requiring nearly a mile hike with a backpack full of weed up straight up the ridge. Anne is a strong, regular hiker who often tramps up and down mountains, and frequents the Appalachian Trail. Because she does, I had to ask her to either wash her boots, or use a pair she doesn’t use on the AT. Why? Because of the presence there of a new, very threatening invasive plant called Wavyleaf Grass. The seeds of this invasive stick to your shoes and clothing to enhance its distribution. Since 2005, it has been documented as occurring in Shenandoah National Park, especially along the Appalachian Trail where hikers unknowingly transport it on their shoes. Here is an excellent flyer on this new threat produced by the Virginia Natural Heritage Division.

All invasive plants can spread through foot traffic in and around natural areas. This presents a real challenge for me since I literally live (part-time) in the middle of the Naked Mountain NAP. I now have Japanese Stiltgrass in my parking pad area, and in my front yard, and yet I go regularly into the nearby woods to do what: pull invasives! It is not surprising that on the hike into Garlic Mustard sites I have been pulling for years, the weed shows up here and there right along the path I, and my volunteers, walk. I have started to clean the bottom of my shoes after each weeding session, but perhaps I should adopt the technique a fellow landowner-friend, Jean Kolb, uses: before leaving an invasive species site, find a small stick and dig out the soil caught in those nice, otherwise helpful, treads on the bottom of your hiking boots.

Anyone else have helpful suggestions?

Here are some more photos from our Garlic Mustard sessions last week:

Forest Floor in a saddle area just below the summit of Naked Mountain: 4/8/15. Author photo.

This photo shows the abundant plant life on Naked Mountain on the forest floor. Cutleaf Toothwort (Dentaria lacinata) is the most abundant plant in this photo, but you can also see May Apple (Podophyllum peltatum) pushing up, as well as a corner of a Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). This same area also has Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) and Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa) and, I am sure, many more plants I have not identified as it is a very tough spot to get to and especially get out of. Adam, Wes and I hauled all of the Garlic Mustard out in bags and back packs — probably 150 pounds of it, straight uphill for 200 feet to the summit. As you can see, It was worth it; it is important to get the Garlic Mustard out of this botanically rich area where Adam Christie says the soil is among the richest he has ever seen.

Another denizen that is pretty wide-spread on Naked Mountain:

Downey Yellow Violet (Viola pubescens ?). What is that deeply cut and variegated leaf next to the violet? What else do you see? Author photo.

An finally, the next day, April 9th, on our way out of a Garlic Mustard site which is lower down on the mountain at an elevation of about 1200 feet, we encountered this charming denizen of Naked Mountain:

This small 3.5 inch long creature is in the land-dwelling juvenile phase of a 12-15 year life span that starts in the water as larvae and finishes in the water as a 5 inch olive-green newt. There are no ponds on Naked Mountain, but there are a number of seeps near the spot where we saw this charmer. You can read more about the Eastern Red-spotted Newt here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_newt

Oh, and I heard my first Wood Thrush sing early Thursday morning, April 9th. Such a lovely voice piercing the foggy mist!

I had a very special visit yesterday from two of the Natural Heritage Division’s stewards: Ryan Klopf, Mountain Region, and Adam Christie, Shenandoah Valley Region. It was an assessment of my compliance with the terms of the deed, held by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), dedicating my property — Naked Mountain — as a Natural Area Preserve. The Natural Heritage Division of DCR manages the state’s system of Natural Area Preserves, now numbering 62. My property, Naked Mountain, is No. 49.

Here is an excerpt from the DCR monitoring procedures document that describes the overall purpose for the visit I had yesterday:

“The legal instrument that establishes a property as a natural area preserve is called a deed of natural area preserve dedication. For non-DCR-owned properties this deed serves as a conservation easement, requiring the perpetual protection of the property as habitat for rare species and significant natural communities. These easements specify compatible and non-compatible uses of the property and grant DCR the right and responsibility of ensuring the terms of the easement are upheld. Easement monitoring is the process of determining if the terms of the easement are being upheld and documenting changes (or lack of change) to the property. It also serves as an opportunity to nurture the relationship with the landowner, who is a very important partner in biodiversity protection. Maintaining accurate records on the condition of the property and on communications with the landowner is essential for consistent enforcement of the terms of the easement and long-term protection of the property’s natural heritage resources.”

The terms of our deed, which my husband and I helped to draft and agreed to, are pretty simple: leave nature alone!

Of course, the one area where we have never left nature alone is in battling invasive species that don’t belong on Naked Mountain. Natural Heritage stewards and I do that work together. And so, the main focus of this first time monitoring visit was to check on our invasive species progress and talk about a developing a management plan for their control going forward.

We walked around the property visiting areas where we continue to pull up Garlic Mustard, have pulled up Wineberry and then spread locally gathered Bottlebrush grass seeds, and where we have done cut stump or hack and squirt treatment on Ailanthus trees.. Adam also marked a two acre area near an old house site that is infested with creeping periwinkle to monitor how quickly it spreads.

Here are some pics:

Natural Heritage Division Stewards Adam Christie on left and Ryan Klopf on right. We are on the summit of Naked Mountain.

Adam Christie filling out DCR monitoring report.

Then I took them to see something they don’t normally encounter during their stewardship duties: a plane crash. Their response: “Cool!”

But, ever the vigilant steward, Adam noted this graffiti on the plane:

Adam notes the date on the plane crash graffiti: 2015!

So… we decided to add another item to the management plan: clear, painted boundaries and signs around the perimeter of the preserve!

Oh … and the story behind that plane crash? Working on it. Have hired a neighbor, Andy Wright, who is an historian. He’s plowing through 1960’s microfiche of the local newspaper in nearby Amherst County. That will be an interesting future post; stay tuned.

I am in shock! Yesterday I received a certified letter from Dominion Transmission, Inc., aka “Dominion” notifying me that they are proposing to run a natural gas pipeline from the fracking fields of West Virginia through precious, unspoiled rural areas of Virginia – including my property – and on to the shipping ports of North Carolina. Here are the key paragraphs:

“I am writing on behalf of …”Dominion” to tell you about a new natural gas pipeline project that Dominion is researching as a possibility for your area. We are referring to this pipeline as the “Southeast Reliability Project.” The purpose of the pipeline is to increase the availability of natural gas supplies in parts of the Southeast, including Virginia, thereby helping promote stable energy prices and economic development.

Typically, the first step in a new project is to conduct surveys and environmerital studies along a potential route corridor. Your property has been identified as being in this corridor and we are notifying you so that we can begin keeping you informed throughout this process and because surveys will be conducted on your property.”

The letter goes on to request my permission to conduct the survey, but this is merely a polite formality. I am told maps of this project bring the pipeline up over the top of Naked Mountain and right through the barrens where the beautiful Shooting Stars bloom and where the rare Torrey’s Mountain Mint grows.

Here are some photos, taken this spring, of what is threatened by this project:

Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon meadia) blooming with Small-flowered Phacelia (Phacelia dubia) in the barrens on Naked Mountain. Many thousands bloom in a warren of barrens across the Southeastern face of Naked Mountain. Click on photo to enlarge.

Small-flowered Phacelia (Phacelia dubia) was blooming in profusion in many open spots across Naked Mountain this spring. Click on photo to enlarge.

Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginia) and Phacelia blooming in the barren on the ridge top near my home.

Yellow Pimpernel (Taenidia integerrima) blooming along my upper road.

Fortunately for me, and for the plants, birds and animals that call Naked Mountain their home, my property is under conservation easement with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. As one of the state’s designated Natural Area Preserves, my property is protected from “takings” for energy transmission lines and pipelines, but not without a fight. I also intend to join Friends of Nelson (County) to help all the citizens that live in this beautiful, rural area fight this pipeline proposal. If you want to help, search google for Friends of Nelson which will have a web site up and running very soon.

It has been a long wait for spring this year. What a winter! Naked Mountain had lots of snow and impeded my progress a number of times. One time, my car got completely stuck at the very bottom of my road. I loaded three days of fresh groceries into my backpack and hiked the two and a half miles up to the house in the snow. It was tiring, but I was pleased with myself that I could do it without too much trouble at the age of 66!

But now comes the reward – spring! I ventured out onto the summit to look for spring ephemerals. I didn’t have to go very far; they were everywhere! In peak bloom were acres of Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) and Cut-leaved Toothwort (Dentaria lacinata).

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) blooming on Naked Mountain.

Cut-leaved Toothwort (Dentaria laciniata) blooming on Naked Mountain.

Here is a photo of a lovely blooming patch of Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea ripens). This is not technically on Naked Mountain, but rather on the banks of Dutch Creek which flows at the Northeastern base of Naked Mountain. It offers a fragrant welcome to all who make the sharp left turn up my road.

I also checked out the progress of a small colony of Shooting Stars (Primula meadia) on the edge of a small barren on the ridge top near the house and was surprised to see how many were popping up. Six years ago there were only two plants, now there are 16. So, this colony is beginning to take off. Naked Mountain is unusual for its massive quantities of Shooting Stars numbering at least ten thousand.

Shooting Stars (Primulus meadia) emerging on Naked Mountain.

I stumble on colonies in various places on the mountain and have been watching the progress of this one near the house. The soil seems to favor their growth as it has a mafic substrate, specifically amphibolite, which has been metamorphosed from basalt. So, the soil has higher concentrations of calcium and magnesium, similar to limestone, which is where Shooting Stars are more frequently found. According to samples collected by Natural Heritage Program staff, it also happens to have lower concentrations of iron compared to most soils on mafic substrates. I discussed this with Gary Fleming, senior vegetation ecologist with the Virginia Natural Heritage Program (DCR) who posits that since Shooting Stars are a prairie flower, the pathways to its distribution East in Virginia are limited by the barrier of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Shooting Stars must have the right alkaline soils, lower elevations, both of which describe Naked Mountain, and access to a prairie pathway.

How about that railway in the valley at the base of the Southeastern slope of Naked Mountain? Maybe, but it goes South, not West. So, a delightful mystery!

When I returned to Naked Mountain from another summer family trip, this time to Cleveland, Ohio for a lovely wedding that took place on a bluff overlooking Lake Erie as the sun set and gulls soared overhead calling out their approval, another beautiful surprise awaited. In a small seep right next to the road and measuring about twenty-five feet by eight feet, cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis) were in full bloom. As I photographed them I counted 87 plants in this small, wet space. Most summers, this seep in August is damp, but not flowing. This year much of the Eastern U.S. has experienced above average rainfall and the seep was running like it does in the spring.

Not so wonderful was the proliferation of Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) in the seep. For six years, I have diligently pulled every blade I could find of this horrible invasive in late August, just before it goes to seed. I have frequently had help in this work from local Master Naturalists. We were making good progress: Every year the infestation was noticeably less. But this year, maybe because of the excessive rainfall, it was like starting over again –an explosion of the stuff. So, after taking the photographs, I began a four hour session of pulling microstegium and only finished half the seep. I will work on this again until I am satisfied it is clean! You can read more about Japanese Stiltgrass here.

A special benefit of spending quiet time doing this not-so-unpleasant task in the middle of a natural area preserve is appreciating being in a natural place. Three Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies (Papilio troilus) worked the cardinal flowers for nectar as I pulled out the weed beneath them that would harm the plants’ ability to thrive and so diminish a helpful food source for the butterflies.

Spicebush Swallowtails are easy to identify because they have two rows of orange spots on the undersides of their hindwings and they are the only black butterfly to flicker its wings as it perches on a flower. That makes photographing them a special challenge! Their host plant is spicebush (Lindera benzoin) and sassafrass (Sassafrass albidum) both of which are in abundance on Naked Mountain. You can read more about Spicebush Swallowtail butterfies here.

Then, I heard the distinctive buzz of a hummingbird’s wings. I looked up to see a tiny bird that looked more like a bee hovering — checking me out. I guess it didn’t like dealing with a human in the middle of a favorite nectar spot – it flew off. I am sure it came back for a good meal after I left.

I returned to Naked Mountain after a three week absence spent visiting family and friends in New England. What a welcome I received! The small barren that is just a short walk from my house up a foot-tramped path is ablaze with masses of blooming Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus) and Nodding Wild Onion (Alluim cernuum). What a show! Tucked in along the edges of the rock were a few dozen Fameflowers (Phemeranthus teretifolius). They were mostly already in fruit, but a few had pink buds that will open only on a sunny afternoon, and only for a few hours for exactly one day — that’s it until next year. Also blooming were a dozen or so Orange-grass, or Pineweed plants (Hypericum genitanoides).

Close up of Nodding Wild Onion Plants (Allium cernuum).

This little barren is such a pleasure – just steps away and a continuing display of gorgeous Virginia native plants. The trees you see in the background are mixed Chestnut Oak (Quercus Montana) and (I think) Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra). The small tree that is growing right out of the rock is a Persimmon tree (Diospyros virginiana) and it is covered with fruit. Also plentiful, but hard to see in this photo are Fringetrees (Chionanthus virginicus). They put on quite a display in May, but I will wait until then to show this to you. The grasses include Poverty Oatgrass (Danthonia spicata) and other species that I have not yet identified. I also know nothing yet about the various mosses and lichens that are plentiful in this barren – more fun discovery work!

I checked on the bluebird box and, as expected, it was empty: The nestlings had fledged. I took the box down and cleaned it out, disposing of the nest. Under the nest I found hundred of tiny ants that probably made life pretty unpleasant for the little baby birds. That sort of insect infestation is a common occurrence in nest boxes. I scrubbed the bottom and sides of the box with a wire brush. Then I scrubbed it with a sponge dipped in mild bleach solution to disinfect. I let the box dry thoroughly in the sunshine and then remounted the box – all ready for another brood.

Last evening, while I was dining on my deck as the sun set, a little flock of bluebirds flew over my head. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the little family that had its beginnings a few steps away in the nest box in the small barren where the sunflowers and nodding wild onion are now blooming….

I was traveling back to my home on Naked Mountain last Tuesday after 24 hours of soaking, drenching rainfall as well as a hailstorm that left piles of icy pellets here and there. The rain was still coming down as I started up my 2.4 mile long road. The road was a mess — gullied as deeply as ten inches in many places and with numerous sizable puddles in low spots. But I kept on. As I started up the steepest portion, I was a little unnerved by a torrent of water coming down the left side of the road, so I erred on the side of caution and steered the car closer to the right side of the road. I failed to see a large, dark log we had

Log that I hit trying to avoid rushing water on the left side of the road.

carefully positioned there during our road work last fall. (See November 13, 2012 post.) I hit it pretty hard and came to a crunching halt. I got out to assess the damage and could see right away that the car could not be driven. The right front wheel was pushed against the back of the structure that houses the whole wheel casing. I gathered up essentials in the car – twenty pounds of just bought groceries and a few other items – into sturdy bags and hiked three quarters of a mile straight uphill to my house. Once I had put away the food, I called my insurance company and put a rescue in motion for the next day.

Smashed right bumper and wheel.

The worst thing about the accident was missing a hike down into the barrens to see the Shooting Stars in peak bloom – 10,000 of them! I had to cancel a visit planned for Friday with Lara Gastinger, lead artist for the recently published Flora of Virginia, who wanted to see the Shooting Star show. Too bad!

The car was towed to Charlottesville the next morning and I drove a rental car to Arlington, Virginia to spend time with a friend while the car is being repaired. It will take two weeks. By the time I get back to Naked Mountain, the Shooting Stars will be done.

One positive note was this: I wait anxiously every spring for the return of two nesting pairs

Cerulean Warbler. Wikipedia photo.

of Cerulean Warblers from their wintering grounds in South America. Cerulean Warblers are listed as a species of concern by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service because of lost habitat in the U.S. and on their wintering grounds. As I walked down the mountain to meet up with the tow truck, I heard Cerulean Warblers singing in two different spots. They are back from South America! It is extremely gratifying to be able to offer these beautiful creatures good habitat that is protected, in perpetuity, under Naked Mountain’s conservation easement held by the Division of Natural Heritage within the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. You can read more about Cerulean Warblers here.

After a dump of two feet of wet snow on Naked Mountain on March 6th, spring finally showed up, as expected, on March 20th, the day of the spring equinox (at least in the Northern Hemisphere.) Here is how Wikipedia defines the phenomenon of the equinox:

“An equinox occurs twice a year (around 20 March and 22 September), when the tilt of the Earth‘s axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth’s equator…

On the day of the equinox, the center of the Sun spends a roughly equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on the Earth, so night and day are about the same length. The word equinox derives from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night).”

When the sun came up on Naked Mountain on March 20th, I timed its arrival, and its departure for equality. Indeed, the sun showed up right about 7:15 a.m. and set right about 7:15 p.m give or take a minute or two. Impressive!

In between the rise and setting of the sun, I checked on the progress of spring on Naked Mountain measured in other ways—wildflower blooms!

Spring 2013 has seemed much colder than last year, but whether this is normal for March is hard to know any more with the confounding effects of global warming. At any rate, the

wildflowers are taking their time. On March 20th, I hiked down into the outcrop barrens to check on the progress of thousands of Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon meadia) that bloom there in early May. The barrens, which are comprised of seeping amphibolite rock and associated plant communities, occur all across the southeastern face of Naked Mountain at about 1700 feet. On March 20th, The Shooting Stars were just coming up; most were poking up about three to four inches above the ground.

Later that day, I took a walk with a friend along a roadway within the Dutch Creek Agricultural-Forestal District near the base of Naked Mountain. An Agriculture-Forestal District is a rural zone that prohibits housing subdivision and any development that is not agricultural, or forestal in nature. It is designed to protect open spaces, rural character, water quality and other natural resources. Here is a benefit of living within a Virginia AFD and having many neighbors who have gone even further and placed their properties under a conservation easement:

Hepatica blooming in the Dutch Creek Agricultural-Forestal District on March 20, 2013.

So, spring is definitely on its way! I will keep you updated on the progress of Shooting Stars and other special denizens of Naked Mountain.